Appendix D: Requirements, Recruitment, and Selection Procedures for Adjunct Faculty

APPENDIX D REQUIREMENTS, RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES FOR ADJUNCT FACULTY Version 2021/22

APPENDIX D REQUIREMENTS, RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCEDURES FOR ADJUNCT FACULTY

D.1 DEFINITION AND GENERAL INFORMATION A. Adjuncts are part-time faculty who are employed on a single semester/term basis only. There is no guarantee of future teaching assignments. An adjunct may work no more than: 13 credit hours in any fall semester 13 credit hours in any spring semester 9 credit hours in any summer semester 3 credit hours in any intersession The requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have prompted UCO to examine and implement limitations on adjunct-faculty teaching loads. The limita- tion of adjunct faculty teaching load (see above) per semester appears to exceed the teaching load of regular faculty at UCO. RUSO policy 3.17 (see section 2.3.3), however, defines full-time faculty workload as 18 credit hours per semester (i.e., fall and spring semesters). RUSO utilizes ‘credit hours’ as a measure of workload. Accordingly, one credit hour equates to 2.22 clock hours per week during the fall and spring semesters.

ACA defines a part-time employee workload as fewer than 30 hours per week (calculated as .75 x 40 hrs). Therefore, the adjunct faculty teaching load based on the RUSO metric is 13 credit hours per fall and spring semesters. The summer semester and intersessions are similarly calculated. The apparent discrepancy between RUSO’s definition of 18 credit hours for full-time faculty and UCO’s 12 credit hours is remedied by the allowance for other obligations, such as scholarship/creative achievement and service. Adjunct faculty do not have scholarship/ creative achievement and service obligations.

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B. Adjunct faculty pay scales vary, according to the instructor’s educational level and work assignment. Adjunct faculty holding a doctorate or other terminal degree with a teaching assignment will earn $915/credit hour; those holding a master’s degree will earn $700/credit hour. Emeritus faculty earn an additional 5% in pay. Clinical Nursing adjuncts with a master’s degree earn $825/credit hour. In extraordinary cases, an individual holding less than a master’s level educational credential may be hired on a semester-to-semester basis. Such an exception must be approved by academic affairs based on a written justification submitted by the appropriate college dean. The pay scale for specialized assignments (labs, applied lessons, etc) varies and is set by the college. C. UCO staff employees may teach only outside their normal work hours unless approved by their supervisor. Non-exempt employees may teach no more than 3 credit hours per semester. D. Adjuncts do not receive paid benefits by the university, e.g. health insurance, Teachers’ Retirement. E. Adjunct faculty members receive free parking decals and, if authorized by the department chair/school director, building keys. Keys are issued by the UCO Police Services upon request from the department chair/school director and are to be returned at the end of the term’s teaching assignment. Adjunct faculty with confirmed teaching assignments for the next semester may retain keys. D.2 PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT A. The department chair/school director or dean may create a pool of adjunct applicants by completing a requisition (using the adjunct template) on the On-line UCO Job Site. B. Requisitions must be completed annually to maintain an active applicant pool. Al- though a requisition for an adjunct pool may be submitted at any time, it remains active only until the annual archival date established by employment services. Deans and department chair/school directors are notified at least one month prior to the archival date. Once requisitions have been archived, new requisitions must

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be submitted and will remain active until the next archival date. C. Primary advertisement of adjunct positions will be on the UCO jobsite. The following mediums may also be used for advertisement/recruitment: 1. The On-line UCO Job Site generates a one page ad for posting or distribu- tion. It is accessible through employment services and can be used intact without prior permission. 2. The Office of Academic Affairs will advertise in local newspapers twice a year. 3. Deans may approve advertisements (print or on-line) in outside journals and professional organizations. If the ad is modified from the one gener- ated from the On-line UCO Job Site, the new ad must be approved by the Office of Academic Affairs prior to submission for publication. College or department resources must be used to pay for the additional ads. D.3 PROCESS OF SELECTION A. Adjunct applicants must apply through the On-Line UCO Job Site at https://jobs. uco.edu. B. The following documents must be attached to the online application: 1. Cover letter. 2. Current resume/vita, including teaching and related professional experience. 3. List of three or more professional references with contact information. 4. Transcript for the highest degree earned unless otherwise posted. a. If applicant is applying in the College of Mathematics and Sciences, transcripts for all degrees are required. b. If applicant is selected for a position, an official transcript in a sealed university envelope is required. C. Applications and attached documents are available for viewing online in the On- line UCO Job Site by the department chair/school director (and/or his/her des- ignees) using a guest password. Guest passwords are assigned by Employment Services.

D. The department chair/school directorD-3 will select needed adjunct faculty members Version 2021/22

from the applicant pool based on applicant qualifications. The department chair/ school director must conduct and document reference checks prior to making a conditional offer. E. All offers of employment made by department chairs/school directors are conditional and may be retracted based on negative findings in the criminal background check and/or degree verification. F. Upon selection of an adjunct faculty candidate, a hiring packet is completed by the department chair/school director and forwarded to the Office of Academic Affairs. G. Upon receipt of the hiring packet, the Office of Academic Affairs will initiate the background check and degree verification. H. All first-time adjunct faculty members (and those who have not taught in more than a year) must personally complete the payroll sign-up process with employment services prior to the term in which they will teach. Documents required for this process include the individual’s social security card or birth certificate and one form of picture identification. In addition, the adjunct faculty member must provide a “voided” bank check in order to enable direct deposit of payroll checks.

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